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There are various ways to share files across local networks, some of which are more complex than others. For most compatibility with all types of host systems (i.e. Windows, OS X, GNU/Linux, *BSD) use the Samba protocol (explained further down). For exchanging files between GNU/Linux (and even OS X) computers, other methods can be much easier and quicker to setup. We'll cover these solutions first, then deal with a simple Samba setup.

One of the most secure and quickest methods is sshfs, a fuse based filesystem that uses ssh. First, install sshfs by opening a terminal and typing:

sudo aptitude install sshfs

When its done installing, create a mount point:

mkdir mnt
cd mnt && mkdir mymount

You can then mount any directory from hosts that run the ssh daemon (sshd). Here, we mount the home directory of user lintian with the IP address of 192.168.1.55 on the mount-point mymount:

sshfs -P 22 lintian@192.168.1.55: mymount/

Once this is done, you can do operations like cp or ls in the mymount/ directory, just like any other directory in your home. This way, you can also access all files in lintians home directory using the file-manager Thunar.